Marylander of the Year finalists: Maggie McIntosh

The passage of Maryland's marriage equality law this year was recognized by many readers as having been the most significant news event of 2012, and they suggested several people who were deserving of recognition as Marylander of the Year for their role in seeing it enacted. To represent them, we chose Del. Maggie McIntosh. Without her effort, marriage equality would not have passed either in the legislature or at the ballot box. She also had a pretty decent year as chairwoman of the House Environmental Matters Committee.

Diane Stollenwerk’s nomination of Delegate McIntosh put things better than we could have:

"This year, because of Maggie's leadership, Maryland became the first state to pass by popular vote equal civil marriage rights to all citizens, and the only state to provide such equity south of the Mason-Dixon Line. She led the work in the House to pass the law which respects the civil and religious rights of all. She then led the strategy group to successfully pass Question 6 by popular vote in November. Under her leadership, the group supporting Question 6 included a wide range of coalitions built across partisan, racial and religious lines. Maggie is the consummate 'woman of the people' who respects all and works tirelessly to ensure that such respect is woven into life for everyone living in Maryland.

"The success of Question 6 is a tremendous achievement for Maryland as a whole, and an immensely important milestone for Maggie both professionally and personally. Recently she was described in the media as 'a 64 year old lesbian from Kansas' who is 'business like' and handles issues with 'no ego.' While that may be true, she is also a wonderfully warm woman with a heart of gold who has shared with many friends and family that she is looking forward to finally being able to marry her life partner and sweetheart sometime next year."

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